Theater Review: Creativity prevails in A Midsummer Night's Dream’

Wednesday

Mar 12, 2014 at 5:37 PMMar 19, 2014 at 4:42 PM

By David Brooks AndrewsWicked Local Arts correspondent

Where your theatrical loyalties lie will be tested by Bristol Old Vic's touring production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream."If you love stagecraft and inventive puppetry, you will be knocked out by this show, which is being performed at Emerson's Cutler Majestic Theatre, so long as you don't mind a fair amount of raunchiness in the mix. The stagecraft and puppets were created by Handspring Puppet Company of Cape Town, South Africa, which is best known for the magnificent horses in "War Horse."On the other hand, if you feel there is nothing more alive on the stage than actors emotionally engaged with each other, you will find some wonderful moments in this show. But you may feel that those moments are swamped by too much technical cleverness and wizardry. And you're likely to ask, "Why bury one of Shakespeare's most delightful and accessible plays in so much stagecraft, instead of letting the actors bring the play's beauty to life?"I confess to preferring the magic that actors at their best create over the magic of artistic designers, even when they're as brilliant as those at Handspring Puppet Company. You should know that as creative as it is, none of the puppetry is as stunning as the horses in "War Horse."The emotional fire of "Midsummer" comes from Akiya Henry as Hermia and Naomi Cranston as Helena. The two characters are close friends but are entangled in their love for Lysander (Alex Felton) and Demetrius (Kyle Lima).Henry is a short, petite, fireball of an actress with an elegant English accent. Cranston is tall and lithesome, also with a lovely English accent who embodies never-ending hope and passion. "I am your spaniel," she tells Demetrius pleading with him in a very funny scene in which he disavows her. And there's a terrific catfight between the two women in which Hermia throws herself at Helena as Lysander and Demetrius hold her back, lifting her off the ground. All of this takes place in a forest filled with magical characters outside of Athens where the lovers have retreated.The simplest stagecraft in this show is the most effective. Each member of the ensemble holds a board as if it's a tree to create the forest. At times they move with the boards almost in a dance or use them to block the passage of the lovers. In one of the loveliest moments, they tap their boards with their fingers, creating a music of night sounds, perhaps rain. They go on to sing a beautiful lullaby with an African feel, using only the word "lullaby."But too often the stagecraft interferes with real connection between the actors. When David Ricardo-Pearce holds up a mask to indicate he's no longer Theseus but his alter-ego Oberon, King of the Forest, he tends to sound like he's delivering a speech. The same is true when Saskia Portway holds up a mask to indicate she's no longer Hippolyta but her alter-ego Titania, the Queen of the Fairies.Oberon's magical servant, Puck, is played by three actors who often speak as a chorus and manipulate various garden tools to suggest a shape-shifting creature. It's very clever, but after a while the cleverness wears a bit thin and I found myself missing Puck as an individual with his own specific emotions.The most inventive but very much over-the-top puppetry involves a bicycle-like contraption ridden by Bottom (Miltos Yerolemou) with a tail attached to his head, large slippers on his feet as if they are his ears, and a bare bottom that Titania mistakes for his face. Her mistake is due to a potion that Puck drops in her eyes causing her to fall in love with the first creature she sees when she awakes. The bare bottom jokes become too much pretty quickly.The rude mechanicals or laborers who are preparing a production of a play are a lively bunch led by Quince (Colin Michael Carmichael). They mingle with the audience as they are coming into the theater and pretend to be auditioning them. Yerolemou is very funny as Pyramus who wants to perform every part. And Saikat Ahamed is poignant as the cowardly lion. One of the most delightful props is a small antique-looking lion on wheels with a mane made of nails that Ahamed tows along.The play "Pyramus and Thisbe" that the rude mechanicals perform for the wedding celebration of Theseus and Hippolyta at the end of "Midsummer" is funny but becomes too stretched out and played for every laugh.It feels as if director Tom Morris, who also directed "War Horse," has become so enamored of Handspring's puppetry that he has lost his larger vision of the play.The show may be just fine for those who need convincing that "Midsummer" is worth a night out, such as children who are 12 or older, as recommended by ArtsEmerson. But for those who love the delicacy of the play and already know the promise of theater, it can feel overdone."A Midsummer Night's Dream"WHEN: Through March 15WHERE: Emerson/Cutler Majestic Theatre, 219 Tremont St., BostonTICKETS: $25 to $89INFO: 617-824-8400; www.artsemerson.org

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